Seisha Masatsugu
Seisha Masatsugu (正次斉射, Masatsugu Seisha) is an original character of the Narutoverse. He is a chūnin-level shinobi of Kusagakure’s Masatsugu clan and a member of Team Jirou. Team Jirou is also known as Team Tiger because of theirjōnin-sensei‘s tiger-nin companion, Kamisorimaru. Usagi Itagaki and Ketsui are the other members of Team Tiger led by jōnin-sensei Jirou Toramasa. Background Seisha was born into the Masatsugu clan to Uchiokoshi and his wife Miyako Gekkō, sister of Hayate Gekkō of Konohagakure. He has a younger brother, Hicchū, who has just started his training at the Kusagakure Ninja Academy. Seisha’s parents are very formal and insisted the he wear traditional clothing when he attended the academy. Because of this the other kids would pick on him, calling him ‘''Furugi'' ‘, which means “Old Clothes”. The Masatsugu clan is known for their knowledge of strategy, their keen alertness and their hiden techniques of kyūjutsu, archery. They are the most feared archers in the world and most often serve as sentries in Kusagakure and the Daimyō’s Palace. In addition, they have a hereditary contract with the Owl’s of the Great Kunugi Tree. When a member of the Masatsugu comes of age he is sent to the Great Kunugi Tree to be trained in the clan’s hiden techniques. Those few who show exceptional ability may chose to undergo the training of the Owl Sage. The clan also possesses a hiden technique involving a series of one-handed hand seals for use while holding a bow. Even though she and Hayate had not yet married at the time of his death, Seisha and Hicchū consider Yūgao Uzuki their aunt and she visits them and their mother when her duties allow. Seisha and his family have also been to Konohagakure many times to visit Yūgao, as well as Hayate’s grave. Thanks to Yūgao’s guidance Seisha was able to develop a collaboration technique involving archery based on the Dance of the Crescent Moon technique shared by her and Hayate. Personality Seisha’s manner tends to be kind-hearted, quite and reflective. He likes puzzles and figuring out how all the smaller parts fit into the bigger picture, such has made him a particularly gifted strategist. Since he was fairly weak as a kid and a poor fighter, Seisha relied on his wits to outsmart his opponents. As an academy student and genin, Sheisha tended to be nerdy and a bit of a know-it-all, often pointing out his fellow student’s mistakes in an annoying and sarcastic manner. As he grew older he realized, with the sometimes not so friendly aid of his teammates, that this was not nice, and now only does it to his opponents, most of the time. In fact, his most commonly used phrase is “Oh…Really?” asked in a drawn out and sarcastic manner. While Seisha at first hated the traditions of his clan, he has grown quite proud of them since passing the Chūnin Exams and being accepted as a full member. When not on assignment or training, Seisha can be found in the park carving small figurines and puzzle blocks out of wood which he bestows upon his friends and the village children. He has become quite well known for his art in both Kusagakure and Konohagakure. His best friend is his fellow teammate Ketsui. Ketsui was also teased a lot because of his burn scars when they were younger, because of this they made a pact to have each other’s back and when someone would pick on one the other would come to his aid. Though this often resulted in both of them being beaten up when they were little. Appearance Seisha has short auburn hair that wings outward and upward on the sides and amber eyes. He was always considered tall for his age and when younger was awkward and lanky. In adolescence, he has filled out more and begun to develop the more muscular physique of a shinobi. At the academy, he wore a traditional white keikogi and black hakama with a dark gray chest protector called a muneate displaying the Masatsugu clan symbol. As a genin, he dropped the chest protector and his clan symbol was sewn onto the short sleeves of the keikogi. After passing the Chūnin Exams he was allowed to wear the clan haori and gray hakama. He wears the haori with his left arm and chest exposed so that it does not interfere with his shooting and has wraps on his left forearm and ankles. He carries a black daikyu-style longbow made from the wood of the Great Kunugi Tree along with summoning scrolls for more ammunition. He wears the Kusagakure forehead protector in the headband style. When in Owl Sage Mode his eyes appear larger and rounder with enlarged black pupils and large glowing yellow irises within a thin black ring. His eyebrows extend down the sides of his nose and a ring of brown feathers grow out around his eye sockets. When Seisha is using the Sage Art: Feathered Flight, his arms become auburn-brown wings, his nose develops a more beak-like appearance and his feet form into talons which can be used to grip his bow as he can no longer grip things in his hands. Abilities Seisha is an intelligent and skilled shinobi. He is highly intelligent and perceptive, often designing strategies for his team or improving on those presented by their jōnin leader. He is a creative thinker and can be rather devious when the mood strikes him. While weaker in taijutsu than his teammates he more than makes up for it in his kyūjutsu and Sage Mode skills. While he does not use genjutsu he has shown some aptitude for resisting it. Like others of his clan, Seisha has learned his clan’s hiden technique to make hand seals one-handed and can summon the various owls of the Great Kunugi Tree. Kyūjutsu Seisha is a highly skilled archer, even the adult members of his clan, known throughout the world for their archery, note his level of marksmanship and discipline. Beyond the basic and advanced techniques of kyūjutsu he has been very successful in developing or improving techniques that combine multiple forms of ninjutsu, such as adapting the body flicker technique to fire arrows at a blinding rate of speed or creating an arrow barrage using shadow clones jutsu techniques similar in effect to the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique but with arrows. Seisha further enhances kyūjutsu techniques through his Senjutsu training. Nature Transformation Seisha has an affinity for the wind release chakra nature. With it he can control the flight path of his arrows, make them sharper and more powerful and create a wind shield around himself. When combined with his body flicker technique he can spin around so fast that he transforms himself into a whirling cyclone. Senjutsu In addition to being able to summon various Owls, Seisha has learned from them the senjutsu arts. Though, most members of his clan study kyūdō, the way of the bow, with the owls that are contracted to their clan, only a rare few attempt to learn the Owl Sage Arts and even fewer succeed. Seisha is the first Masatsugu clan member to do so in three generations, since his great-great-grandfather, Zanshin Masatsugu. He learned these arts from the mighty Owl Sage King, Fukurômaō Sennin, among the branches of the Great Kunugi Tree. In Sage Mode, Seisha's sensory abilities are dramatically heightened to the point he could detect and identify other people’s chakras, allowing him to fire chakra seeking arrows that hone in on a particular chakra signature. Seisha’s durability and agility increase as well making him faster and able to take greater punishment. Seisha can enter sage mode by meditating himself if there is sufficient time, using the Kunugi Tree Bow, though he may only use this method once per day, or by fusing with'' the summoned owl Hoshouzuku. Seisha can currently hold Sage Mode for about five minutes. The Sage Art: Feathered Flight allows Seisha to fly but is dangerous as it causes physiological changes that take longer to recover from and could potentially cause lasting harm to the sage using it. '''Weapons' Upon completion of his Owl Sage training the Owl King gifted Seisha with a Legendary Daikyū Bow crafted by his great-great-grandfather from the Great Kunugi Tree which is embued with the great tree’s chakra and strong enough to deflect blows from even steel weapons. In addition, the bow allows Seisha to immediately enter sage mode once per day. He shoots normal arrows as well as Chakra Point Arrows that are made from a special metal that can be infused through "chakra flow" with elemental chakra or Yin–Yang chakra to produce added effects. He also carries arrows with explosive tags attached to the shaft and grappling arrows with a line attached to the head. These arrows are carried in a special quiver with a summoning scroll attached which allows Seisha to summon more arrows as he runs out. Status Part I Kusagakure Ninja Academy Arc Prior to starting the academy many of the kids already knew one another from the playground in the village. However, one kid tended to be shunned by all the others and that was Ketsui, a war orphan from the Third Shinobi War. No one knew who his parents were but it was known that they were not of the village. Ketsui had a strange appearance having burn scars covering most of his body. On the first day of the Ninja Academy some of the kids started teasing Seisha about his clothes and calling him names. Ketsui told them they should shut up and they started picking on him instead but Seisha was embarrassed and didn’t stand up for Ketsudan as he had done for him. After school Seisha came upon the boy again being beaten up by a few of the other kids. Ashamed for not sticking up for Ketsui before Seisha tried to help but the other boys were a lot stronger and they both got beat up. After that the two boys became inseparable friends and would often mouth off to the other kids even though it rarely worked out in their favor. One of the hardest general skills for academy students to learn is Water Surface Walking, and normally takes a while to master. After the first day of practice and Seisha and Ketsui’s daily fight with the class bullies, bruised and battered they walk along the river bank on their way home. Up ahead they come upon Koke, a classmate’s little sister yelling for help. Usagi Itagaki, a kunoichi academy student in their class, had fallen in the river while practicing water surface walking on her own, which they had been instructed not to do, and become entangled in a bait trap putting her in danger drowning. Without the embarrassment of failure clouding their minds and the need to save a comrade fueling their drive the two boys use the water surface walking technique to run out across the river and drag her to the shore. Grateful for their rescue and their agreed silence on reporting the incident to their class instructor, the three become friends. To the boys benefit, Usagi is the strongest of their classmates in taijutsu and all the other boys are terrified of her. She is very protective of Seisha and Ketsudan and put a quick end to their being bullied. Team Tiger Arc The three friends helped each other a lot during the academy and their teamwork was noticed by their instructors. When the graduated to genin rank, it was decided to put the three of them on the same team to further develop their skills and cooperation. They were assigned to a standard four man team under the leadership of Jōnin-Sensei Jirou Toramasa, a former Kusagakure ANBU. As a result much of their training revolved around stealth. Team Jirou’s first big mission was to locate and return a prize racing horse of the Shusoku Family in the neighboring Umagoya Village. The team met with the head of the Shusoku family, Tsukai, and his son, Kei, who was to ride the horse in question at a race in an upcoming international event. The horse, named Honba, was known for its willful disposition and frequent escapes. This was only considered to be a C-rank mission but it was soon discovered thatthe horse had been stolen by ninja from Takigakure. Upon making the discovery the team regrouped with the intention of calling in a more experienced team, but Kei, afraid for his horse and not willing to wait, ran off and got captured trying to get the horse back himself and the team had to attempt a rescue despite their inexperience. Team Tiger infiltrated the bandit’s camp without being seen and rescued the horse and Kei. Three of the bandits upon discovering the horse and kid were gone tracked down the team before they could make it back to the village and a fight ensued. Jirou and Kamisorimaru each took on one of the bandit-nin and the three genin took on the third, which proclaimed himself as Umaketsu the Vile, and captured him using their Flying Tiger Cage Collaboration Technique. The technique was initially designed to catch rodents in Old Lady Kuwa’s garden, one of Team Tiger’s genin tasks, but Seisha adapted it to immobilize Umaketsu. The team made it back to the village just in time for Kei and Honba to join the race, which they went on to win. Chūnin Exams Arc In their third year as genin Team Tiger made up three of the fifteen genin from Kusagakure at the Chūnin Exams in Konohagakure. Among the others were Shiore and her team which was killed and impersonated by Orochimaru. The two jonin killed by Gaara were jonin leaders of two of the other teams. After arriving in the Konohagakure, Jirou left them to catch up with Tsume, an old friend and rival among the Inuzuka Clan. The three genin ate lunch at Ramen Ichiraku, and while there got in a scuffle with another Konoha genin team consisting of Shikamaru , Ino and Choji. The fight started because Ketsudan thought Ino made a remark about the burns on his face and in retaliation he said she was stuck up and then Choji called Ketsui ugly for insulting Ino, and then Seisha told Choji “to watch it, Fatso”. Things were about to become physical, but it was broken up by Iruka Umino, who warned them that fighting outside of the Chūnin Exams could get them disqualified, then made them each apologize and sit down and enjoy a meal together. After the misunderstanding was resolved the afternoon became much friendlier. The team was eliminated from the first phase of the exams when Usagi opted out of the 10th question. While there was some resentment about this, especially after they learned that by accepting the question they would have automatically passed, it was quickly overshadowed by the discovery of the deaths of their fellow ninjas at the hands of Orochimaru and Gaara. All three passed the Chūnin Exams the following year. Part II Konohagakure Security Test Arc ' As chūnin one of Team Tiger’s primary tasks becomes the testing of Kusagakure’s defenses. Periodically upon completing some mission they will be sent a coded message giving them details of the next security test and objectives. The test usually revolves around sneaking in to Kusagakure or the Daimyō’s palace and either stealing something, like a scroll, or placing something like a tag on someone, simulating they have been assassinated. They are usually caught, which is a good thing, but have been successful a little too often for the comfort of the Kusasancho, village head. The benefit the team adds to Kusagakure’s security and defenses is such that they have been request to perform similar test for some of Kusagakure’s allies. Team Tiger was even hired on one occasion by the Hokage, Tsunade, to test Konohagakure’s defenses. All was going well and Team Tiger penetrated deep in to Konohagakure’s security structure before they were seen. Unfortunately, the test and their capture proved enough of a distraction to allow a real threat to sneak into Lady Tsunade’s office and steal a scroll pertinent to Konohagakure and Land of Fire trade agreements. Team Tiger then teamed up with Konohagakure’s Team Kurenai to get them back. Together they tracked down and defeated the bandit-nin. During the fighting one of the bandit-nin summoned a messenger rat-nin that swallowed the scroll while the thieves delay for it to escape but Seisha summoned the owl-nin, Hoshouzuku, who quickly swooped down and gobbled up the rat-nin, regurgitating the scroll later. Under interrogation back at Konohagakure it was revealed the bandits may have been affiliated with Amegakure, but concrete evidence could not be obtained since the bandits wore no headbands and their minds had been well guarded against intrusion, resulting in the deaths of all but one questioned and he was a missing-nin from Ishigakure. Usagi and Hinata were friendly to all and excited about working together, Shino and Seisha greeted all with their usual detachment and Kiba and Ketsui felt that the other team was an unnecessary burden and blamed them for the incident. In addition, Kiba didn’t like Jirou, because of the previous history with his mother and Akamaru was somewhat afraid of Kamisorimaru, given his history with Kuromaru. Despite their initial feelings both teams bonded a great deal by the end of the mission and became friends. Interestingly the two that learned the most were Kiba, about animal collaboration techniques from Jirou, and Ketsudan, about using genjutsu in combat from Kurenai, as both senseis were renowned in their respective fields. '' (The events of the Konohagakure Security Test Arc occurred during the Kazekage Rescue Arc of the Naruto: Shippuden series.) '''Owl Sage Arc Shortly after Seisha’s sixteenth birthday Team Tiger was assigned to investigate disturbances on the Iwagakure Border. They discovered that a group of Iwa-nin had set up an archeological dig a few miles into Kusagakure territory. These invaders were searching for a legendary artifact lost during the Third Shinobi World War. Seisha attempted to summon a messenger owl to take word back to Kusagakure but got reverse summoned instead to the Great Kunugi Tree to begin his training in Kyūdō. His level of attainment was such that he was able to be trained to become an Owl Sage, something no one in his clan has achieved since his legendary great-great-grandfather, Zanshin Masatsugu. As the final part of his training Seisha had to enter the root base of the Great Tree, defeat the guardian mukade, a giant poisonous centipede, and retrieve the Great Kunugi Tree Bow that his ancestor had crafted from a bough of the Great Kunugi Tree itself. Upon Seisha’s return he finds Kusagakure engaged in a battle with Iwa forces armed with a legendary artifact that allows the user to summon hundreds of Clay Clones. Using Cyclone Assault, a collaboration technique combining wind release and Kyūdō to form himself into a whirling cyclone that discharges hundred of arrows in all directions and then used his Sage Art: Tracking Technique to lock on to the artifact’s Chakra and destroyed it using Sage Art: Chakra Seeking Arrow.'' '' Shinobi World War Arc During the Fourth Shinobi World War Team Tiger was split up initially. Seisha was placed in the Fourth Division under Gaara and Shikamaru and fought honorably at the battles on the Land of Lightning’s Coast. (To be continued…) Trivia * Seisha’s clan is named after Heki Danjō Masatsugu who revolutionized Japanese footman’s archery in the 15th century. Masatsugu clan members are named after the tenets and steps, hassetsu, of Kyūdō. * The Masatsugu Clan symbol is a Kasumi-mato, the standard target face used for Kyūdō. * Seisha’s name means “true shooting” and his little brother’s name, Hicchū, means “certain hitting”. Seisha Hicchū is a tenet of Kyūdō. * Seisha’s father’s name, Uchiokoshi is the hassetsu step to raise the bow, playing on the word “raise” as in raising a child. * A Tiger Team is a military unit designed to test “Friendly” security systems. * The Mythical Kunugi Tree, a kind of Oak, is said to have stood on the island of Tsukushi in Japan. Its shadow at dawn and sunset is said to have cast a shadow for hundreds of miles. Hundreds of of thousands of people could walk on it when it fell. One of its stems was like a long hill range. According to the databook(s): § Seisha’s hobbies are wood carving and puzzles. § Seisha desires to fight no one, but would like to challenge Shikamaru Nara to a shōgi match. § Seisha’s favourite foods are tempura and spicy food. His least favourite are peas and broccoli. § Seisha has completed 42 Missions: 9 D-rank, 4 C-Rank, 11 B-rank, 17 A-rank, 1 S-rank. § Seisha’s favourite phrase is “Oh, really?”, Souka? ''Literal translation “Is that so?”) Quotes *(To his Father) ''”But Why?!...nobody else in my class has to wear stingy old clothes…It’s not fair!” *(To Ketsui ) “Because we’re friends now, silly. It doesn’t matter if we win or lose just so long as we stand together.” *(To Umaketsu)'' “Oh, really? ... You’ll have to catch me first!”'' *(To Jirou)”''Oh really? … Well, Usagi’s gonna be the first female Kusasancho one day! I’ll be her Jōnin Commander and Ketsudan will run the ANBU forces… We are the future of this village and will protect it at all costs…you just wait and see.”'' *(To Kiba) “A ninja does not fight for personal glory but for the protection of his village, I can do that better at a distance. If that makes me a coward, so be it.” Reference *The Seisha Masatsugu OC, supporting OC’s and artwork are the creation of Dallas Perry. *Information about the Narutoverse was obtained from the Narutopedia website and/or from the Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden anime series. *Historical information was obtained from Wikipedia. *Kunugi Tree Myth came from http://www.nyu.edu/projects/julian/myth.html Category:DRAFT